Tuesday, June 28, 2005

What happens if oil output 'peaks'?

....."But even if Congress continues to lavish ethanol subsidies on the agriculture industry, farmers could plant every inch of the U.S. with corn and still wouldn't come close to replacing the gasoline consumed by American drivers. And even if every SUV owner in the U.S. decided to trade in for a gas-electric hybrid tomorrow, there wouldn't be enough to go around."......

....."Unfortunately, our elected representatives in Congress have done little to encourage conservation -– in large part because it’s not a politically popular thing to do. Every politician alive today remembers watching one-term President Jimmy Carter addressing the nation in a sweater telling Americans to turn down their thermostats. In a world of sprawling McMansions compete with central air, home entertainment suites and multiple SUVs in the garage, telling voters to consume less isn’t a great way to get elected.

“Conservation,” in fact, has become a dirty word on Capitol Hill because it denotes sacrifice; these days “increased efficiency” is the preferred way to talk about cutting demand. As a result, after four years of debate and two failed attempts, Congress is still promoting a comprehensive energy bill that (at this writing) makes little, if any, serious provision for encouraging conservation and cutting demand. Requiring government workers to turn the lights out when they go home just isn’t going to get the job done.

If oil prices continue to rise (as we believe they will), all that could change. But American consumer/voters first need to stop blaming “greedy” oil companies, OPEC, environmentalists, China, gasoline retailers, fanciful conspiracy theories about suppressed oil production, etc. (Our email Inbox is full of these.) If you really want to fix the problem, find out who is running for Congress in your district, Google their Web site, find out where they stand on energy policy. Write or email them and let them know what you think.

If the era of “cheap oil” is indeed over, we all have a lot of work to do. But here at the Answer Desk, we don’t believe that the game is over. There are a lot of very smart people out there working on solutions. As oil consumers, we all created this problem. The good news is that that means we all have the power to solve it."......